Name in Japanese M Malcolm

Malcolm in Japanese

マルコム
Katakana
マルコム
Hiragana
まるこむ
Romaji (Hepburn)
Marukomu

This is the established spelling used for Malcolm in Japanese dictionaries, books and media.

How Malcolm sounds in Japanese

Read it one katakana at a time:

Ma
Ru
Ko
Mu

Full reading: Marukomu

Do more with Malcolm in Japanese

Why Malcolm is written in katakana

In Japanese, foreign names are written in katakana — the angular script reserved for words borrowed from other languages. So on a form, a name tag, a delivery slip or a news article in Japan, Malcolm appears as マルコム. This is the correct and respectful way a non-Japanese name is represented; it is not a kanji "translation". A Japanese reader sees マルコム and immediately reads it by its sound, Marukomu.

Katakana is a syllabary, so English sounds are fitted to the nearest Japanese syllables and every consonant (except ん) is followed by a vowel. That is why Malcolm becomes マルコム rather than a letter-for-letter copy. More than one katakana spelling can be reasonable for the same name, which is why we flag whether a spelling is a long-established one or a natural default.